The U.S. has theater institutes throughout the country.
Aspiring theater students dream of achieving success in Hollywood films and the Broadway theater district in New York City. To help foster theatrical talent, many universities throughout the U.S. have theater departments and film studios. Some schools, often called conservatories, focus solely on theatrical areas, including acting, writing and theater production.
Northeast
The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, or AMDC, has two locations in New York and Los Angeles, but the main campus is in the Big Apple. This college conservatory offers intense studies in live dramatic theater and musical theater in New York, while the Los Angeles branch offers more studies in film. AMDC offers bachelor of fine arts degrees and two-year certificates.
Situated in Boston, Emerson College is a four-year private institute that solely focuses on communication and performing arts. The college is in the heart of downtown -- across the street from Boston Common -- and was founded in 1880. Most of its theatrical productions are in the Cutler Majestic Theater, a performance space built in 1903.
Southeast
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, or Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg offers a bachelor of arts and master of fine arts degrees in theatre arts. Theatrical productions occur in the smaller Squires Studio Theater and Squires Haymarket Theater, which has a proscenium stage. The department produce four shows during the school year and two shows for summer theater.
Louisiana State University, located in Baton Rouge, is a four-year public university that offers theatrical studies for a bachelor of arts, master of fine arts and doctor of philosophy in theater. Its theater venue, the Reilly Theater, features a theater-in-the-round stage and has a seating capacity of 500.
Southwest
The Texas Actor's Studio in Euless, a suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, is primarily an acting conservatory and offers studies in film, commercial and theater-style acting. It allows students to participate in scene studies, but doesn't produce full productions. This acting studio accepts child actors, but children must be at least seven years old.
The Herberger Institute for Design and Arts is part of Arizona State University, located in Tempe. Undergraduate studies include a bachelor of arts degrees in theater and film, while graduate programs offer a master of arts and master of fine arts in theater. The university hosts an annual student film festival in the spring.
Pacific Coast
The American Conservatory Theater, or ACT, in San Francisco's Financial District, serves as a live theater venue and acting conservatory. Many of the productions are cast from conservatory students. ACT offers a master of fine arts in theater-style acting. The resident theater of ACT is the Geary Theater, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Seattle, Washington's Cornish College of the Arts, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, offers a bachelor of fine arts in theater and performance production. It's one of the oldest arts schools on the west coast, founded in 1914. The school has an original works concentration through which aspiring playwright students have their works performed by college actors.
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